


Suddenly Everything Changed

by dragonydreams



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Complete, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:47:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24359074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonydreams/pseuds/dragonydreams
Summary: When Barry Allen first learned about soulmarks in school at the age of ten, he couldn't wait to run home to talk to his parents. Oliver Queen did not believe in soulmates… until he is shown otherwise.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Oliver Queen
Comments: 37
Kudos: 317
Collections: Fandom For Australia





	1. I Know Where I Want To Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tommygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommygirl/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them - and some dialog - from Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television.
> 
> Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie for looking this over for me.
> 
> Author's Note 1: This was written for tommygirl for Fandom for Australia. I'm sorry that it took so long, but the story ended up much longer than anticipated, so I hope that makes up for it.
> 
> Author's Note 2: Story and chapter titles are from the song "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes
> 
> Author's Note 3: For the purpose of this story, I am using [this map](https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/2xb790/a_map_of_all_the_dc_cities_and_their_repsective/) as my reference for the locations for Central City and Starling City.

When Barry Allen first learned about soulmarks in school at the age of ten, he couldn't wait to run home to talk to his parents. He had a million questions and he knew his parents, whom he'd always known were soulmates, would know the answers. They knew everything, after all.

He'd managed to restrain himself until they were eating dinner that night.

"So, what did you learn in school today?" Henry asked his son as he spooned mashed potatoes onto Barry's plate and then his own before handing the bowl to Nora.

Grinning toothily, Barry announced, "We learned about soulmarks."

Henry and Nora shared a look, silently sending strength to each other as they prepared for what was about to come.

"Really?" Nora asked. "What did you learn about them?"

Barry bounced a bit in his seat. He held up one hand and started ticking what he knew off on his fingers. "Everyone has a soulmate, but not everyone gets a soulmark because soulmarks only show up if the other person has been injured enough to get a scar." He wasn't sure if that was one or two, but he counted it as two on his fingers. Touching his middle finger, he said, "Soulmarks look like the state flower of wherever the person was, physically, when they were injured; so you could end up with flowers from all over the place if your soulmate got injured while traveling a lot. Like soldiers' soulmates." 

Pausing, Barry looked up at his dad. "Do scars from surgeries cause soulmarks, Daddy?"

"Yes, son, any kind of scar creates a soulmark," Henry answered. 

"How do you recognize your soulmate if neither of you have any scars?" Barry asked.

"You know it in your heart," Nora said, lacing her fingers through Henry's. "In your soul. It's that feeling of knowing that your life would be incomplete without the other person."

"Like me and Iris," Barry said. "I can't imagine my life without Iris in it."

"Perhaps," Henry said. "Only time will tell if you two are soulmates."

~~*~~

After Barry's mom was killed by the Man in Yellow, his dad was sent to prison, and he went to live with Joe and Iris West, Barry clung to the belief that Iris was his soulmate harder than ever. Iris was the only good thing in his life, even if he did run away from home a lot. But that was because he was trying to get to his dad, not because he wanted to leave Iris.

His beliefs were shattered when they were seventeen and Iris's appendix burst. She had to have emergency surgery and, remembering what his dad had told him as a kid, Barry frantically looked for a soulmark on his abdomen after her surgery. He'd seen her scar, but he didn't have the matching soulmark. He'd been shattered, wanting nothing more than to cry in bed for a week, but he couldn't do that because Iris needed him to cheer her up in the hospital. So that's what he did. She was still his best friend and he still loved her.

~~*~~

When he was eighteen, soulmarks began appearing on his body.

One day in the fall of 2007, Barry had felt a tingling on his left shoulder. When he looked in the mirror, there were a cluster of small purple flowers. He later discovered that they were the flowers from the Hong Kong Orchid Tree.

_His soulmate was Chinese? How was he ever going to meet someone from China?_

Several weeks later, a row of the same flowers appeared beneath his left pectoral. 

It was a couple of years later that the same flowers appeared on Barry's back right shoulder in overlapping lines. And then a few weeks after that a semi-circle of flowers materialized on the left side of his abdomen. If Barry didn't know better, he'd say it was some kind of bite mark. 

Wherever his soulmate was, Barry hoped he or she was okay and that that person would live long enough for them to meet.

~~*~~

One morning when Barry was twenty-one and home for Christmas break from his senior year of college he made the mistake of not wearing his bathrobe after he took a shower. Joe came out of his bedroom as Barry was walking back to his room, towel around his waist.

Barry's eyes widened as he realized that this was the first time Joe was seeing his soulmarks, just as Joe's eyes were widening in parental fear at how many soulmarks Barry had. 

"Barr," Joe whispered, his hand unconsciously rising towards Barry. "How? When?"

Barry flushed, his hand coming up to rest on the back of his neck. Then he realized that only displayed the marks on his abdomen better and he lowered it. "Let me put some pants on and we can talk."

Joe blinked and nodded. "I'm just gonna…" He gestured towards the bathroom. "And then I'll come to your room."

Barry nodded and turned away, internally wincing as he realized he was now presenting the marks on his back to Joe. 

He quickly pulled on a pair of boxers, socks, and jeans while he waited for Joe. He laid out a shirt to wear, but left it on his bed, knowing he should leave his marks bare for this conversation.

After just a few minutes, there was a knock on the door and Barry called for Joe to enter. 

"Let me get a look at you, son," Joe said, quickly closing the door behind him.

Barry held his arms out to the side and did a slow turn for Joe. When he stopped, he could see Joe trying to mentally calculate the last time he'd seen Barry shirtless.

"The first one showed up when I was eighteen," Barry said, gesturing to the flowers on his left shoulder.

Joe stepped in close, examining the flowers. "I don't recognize this. Everyone I know has the white hawthorn blossom for Missouri."

"It took some research, but it's from Hong Kong," Barry confirmed.

"China? Really?" Joe exclaimed, in surprise. "How'd you end up with a soulmate in China?"

Barry shrugged. "I've been wondering that for the past three years."

"And you have no idea who it is?"

"None. All I know is that my soulmate goes through phases of getting injured a lot," Barry said. "I can't even imagine what caused all of these scars."

"If you weren't almost about to graduate, I might suggest taking some classes on PTSD," Joe said, almost to himself. "Your soulmate is bound to have some serious issues if you ever meet."

"That's actually a good idea, Joe," Barry said. "I'll see if I can take a psych class next semester. Maybe Iris and I can take something together."

"I'm sure she'd like that," Joe said. "Just, don't tell her why. I don't want her to know about all of this." He gestured to Barry's torso.

Pulling his shirt over his head and down to cover his body, Barry said, "Don't worry, I'm in no rush for her to know about these marks." After a brief hesitation, he asked, "Was Iris's mom your soulmate?"

Joe reached up to scratch his beard before wearily answering. "No, she wasn't. When we first got together, I thought we were, but that was just young love. As time went on, scars that should have been soulmarks never showed up."

"So your soulmate is still out there?"

Joe shrugged. "Perhaps. Or maybe I'm one of those rare people who doesn't have a soulmate. Or they died before we could meet."

"Nah, I think they're still out there," Barry said, ever the optimist.

~~*~~

Barry was surprised when, several months later, a new set of flowers blossomed on his left pectoral. Not the fact that there was a new mark, but that these flowers were different. At first glance, they looked like daisies, but he wasn't aware of the daisy being a state or national flower.

Upon further research, he discovered that the new flower was chamomile, which was the national flower of Russia. How had his soulmate gone from China to Russia and was still getting injured enough to scar?

Then, not too long after that, more Hong Kong Orchids appeared in quick succession. His entire lower back was covered in a field of purple orchids and a bouquet of flowers appeared on his right pectoral within a matter of minutes. 

After that, Barry got very confused about who his soulmate could be, because the next flower to appear on his body was a Golden Poppy on his arm, which was the state flower of California. 

Over the next several months, several small golden poppies appeared on Barry's arms, legs, and chest. 

_Does this mean that his soulmate is in the US now? Might they be getting closer to meeting?_ His mind reeled with the possibilities. 

Luckily, his job as an Assistant CSI with the Central City police department didn't give him a lot of spare time to over analyze this change in location too much.

When he heard about an unusual case in Starling City, California about a year later that reminded him a lot of his mother's murder, Barry couldn't resist following the lead. Even if it meant using up some of his sick time. Maybe this strange case would help him meet his soulmate?

~~*~~

It was pouring rain when the train finally arrived in Starling City. Because arriving at a crime scene late and drenching wet was exactly the kind of first impression he wanted to make. There were so many cops on the crime scene that they didn't even bother noticing that his badge was for Central City instead of Starling.

Perhaps his luck was starting to turn around.

Then again, the way Oliver Queen, the CEO of Queen Consolidated, put him down almost immediately almost threw him off his game. Luckily, Barry was used to getting under-estimated because he looked younger than his twenty-four years. He'd purposely waited to approach with his theories until he'd had some proof to back it up.

He'd also been observing the group talking for personal reasons. 

On the long train ride from Central City, Barry had taken some time to do some research on Oliver Queen. He'd only returned to Starling City a year ago after having been presumed dead five years ago when the boat he'd been on had sunk in the North China Sea. 

Barry's hands had unconsciously drifted over his torso, brushing against the spots where the Hong Kong Orchids were located. Counting back, he realized that it had been about six years ago since the first mark appeared on his shoulder. 

_Could Oliver Queen be his soulmate?_

After meeting the man, Barry kind of hoped that Oliver was not his soulmate. The man was a condescending jerk. Albeit a gorgeous, condescending jerk… who he felt inexplicably drawn to.

His assistant on the other hand, Felicity Smoak, was someone he could see himself falling for. She was cute, and quirky, and she actually seemed to understand his scientific babble. More than most people, at least. 

When Oliver confronted him about lying about why he was in Starling City, he told his sob story. He hated having to talk about his mom's murder and how his dad went to jail for it because no one would believe an eleven year old boy that a blurry man came into his home and killed his mom. No one ever believed him; not even Joe.

Which is why he'd been surprised when Oliver called him and asked him to still be Felicity's plus one to the party he was throwing. Barry wasn't sure what had changed the man's mind, but he wasn't going to turn down the chance to see him, or Felicity, again.

Barry had known he was bisexual for a while now, he just didn't usually find himself reacting so strongly to two people at once. 

After being shot with a tranquilizer dart and waking up in the Vigilante's...lair...everything became very clear for Barry.

Oliver Queen was the Vigilante. He was also Barry's soulmate. He knew the layout of those scars intimately.

Barry couldn't even stop to process any of that just yet because first he had to save Oliver from being poisoned. 

As he was capturing the assailant's fingerprint from Oliver's neck, Oliver suddenly woke up and began choking Barry.

"Oliver, let him go." "Oliver!" Felicity and Diggle yelled.

Rolling off the table, Oliver asked, "What the... What the hell is going on?" 

"You were injected with a strong-acting blood coagulant," Felicity said.

Barry coughed. "You would have stroked out, ahem, but fortunately you had a very effective blood thinner handy. Warfarin. Better known as rat poison." 

"Kid saved your life, Oliver," Diggle said.

"This is the point in a lifesaving emergency where you thank the person that did the lifesaving," Felicity prompted. 

Sounding hurt, Oliver turned on her. "You told him who I am." 

"Yeah, I did," Felicity agreed. 

"That's not your secret to tell, Felicity. I decide who finds out my identity." 

"Well, we didn't have time to get your vote, what with you unconscious and dying," she pointed out.

"What happens if he leaves here and goes right to the police?" 

"He wouldn't do that," Felicity said confidently. 

"I wouldn't do that," Barry agreed. He wasn't sure why he bothered speaking, as Oliver seemed happy to ignore his presence. 

"I trust him," Felicity insisted. 

"I don't!" 

Barry shouldn't be surprised by Oliver's statement, but he was hurt by it. He'd just found his soulmate, and he hated him. Didn't Oliver feel drawn to him the way that Barry was drawn to him, despite his better judgement?

"What are you going to do, put an arrow in him?" Felicity shot back. 

"I am considering it," Oliver growled, finally looking at Barry. 

"Don't worry, he's kidding!" Felicity bit out in Barry's direction before returning her focus to Oliver. "How is this any different from when your mother shot you and you came to me for help?" 

"Your mother shot you?" Barry asked. He wondered which one of the golden poppies that was. 

"Or when you brought Dig down here when he was poisoned with curare," Felicity continued.

"The difference is that I did my homework on both of you! I don't just tell people easily," Oliver said, his voice thick with emotion. 

"I'm not going to tell anyone," Barry said, drawing their attention back to him. "And you don't have to thank me, but you should thank her instead of being kind of a jerk." Oliver took a menacing step towards him. "Mr. Queen." 

Oliver's cell phone began to vibrate, cutting through the tension. He picked it up and sighed. "I have to go home. That man that I fought in the bunker; he has what he needs to mass produce the serum from the island. And we have to stop him." 

Not really in the mood to help Oliver out after the way he'd just treated him, Barry couldn't knowingly withhold evidence in their investigation. "He touched your skin when he grabbed your neck. I was able to absorb the residual oils from his skin, which, when added to a gel-based polymer, might be able to recreate his fingerprint." 

While he watched Oliver head off to get changed into his street clothes, Felicity came up behind him. 

"Never meet your heroes, right?"

_Never meet your vigilante soulmate was more like it_ , Barry thought.

He should have left after that, but he didn't. He lingered in the Arrow's lair, which Diggle said he liked to be called now, determined to see this case through. He could put his personal feelings aside long enough to get the job done.

When Felicity jokingly said that it sounded like Barry wanted to date Oliver, he quickly covered his tracks. There was no way that he was going to let it slip to Felicity that Oliver was his soulmate. Certainly not before he talked to Oliver about it himself. Whenever that was going to be.

Since they were just killing time down in the lair while the blood analysis ran, Barry spent some time poking around while Felicity worked on the computers. He happened to find some scraps of green fabric laying around as well as the chemicals he could use to make it compressible, so he began to make a mask for Oliver. It wasn't something that he advertised, but he was actually really good at sewing. He finished just before he needed to leave to catch his train back to Central City. 

He really didn't want to miss the particle accelerator being turned on. He'd hoped to be at S.T.A.R. Labs when it happened, but his train got him in too late for that, of course, so he went to his lab at work instead. May as well get started catching up on work, after all.

He saw the particle accelerator explode and he was still holding onto the metal chain to close the leaky skylight window when the lightning struck.

His last thought was to wonder if Oliver would have a soulmark from him now.


	2. I'm Glad I Didn't Die Before I Met You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's POV

Oliver Queen did not believe in soulmates. 

Laurel used to try to convince him that they were soulmates, saying that was why he kept coming back to her after each time he cheated on her. To him, the fact that he cheated on her so much just proved that they weren't soulmates. After all, how could a man cheat on his soulmate - with both men and women - as much as he cheated on Laurel? 

It's why he didn't believe that his parents were soulmates either. He knew that his father had had multiple affairs throughout his marriage. 

Besides, it's not like he ever displayed any soulmarks. So either soulmates didn't exist, or his soulmate led a really boring life. 

While he was on the island, Oliver began to wonder if Laurel truly was his soulmate. If she were, that would explain why he thought about getting home to her so obsessively. Or maybe that was just survivor's guilt for getting her sister killed. 

As he was shot with arrows and tortured, Oliver really hoped soulmates didn't exist. His body was starting to accumulate quite an impressive array of scars, and if he did have a soulmate, they would be showing floral representations of all of them. He didn't want to worry whomever that person was, if they existed. Especially if that person was Laurel.

When he finally made it home to Starling City and he saw Laurel for the first time, she'd been as surprised as everyone else that he was still alive. If she had been his soulmate, she would have known he was alive from the soulmarks. He'd breathed a sigh of relief to learn that he had just been a really bad boyfriend, and not a bad soulmate to her. 

He decided that he'd been right all along; soulmates did not exist. He could now focus on his reason for finally returning home. He could start righting his father's wrongs and save his city.

Leading a double life wasn't always easy, especially when he'd had to step in as CEO at Queen Consolidated, but with the help of Felicity Smoak and John Diggle, he was managing to pull it off. 

At least until a young CSI from Central City stepped on to a crime scene and turned his world upside down.

When Oliver first saw the nerdy young man, he felt something that he'd never felt before. An… _awareness_ … he'd never known before in his life. It intrigued and repulsed him, so he did what he usually did when confronted with something unknown. He tried to push it away. 

Only Barry wouldn't go away. He had that same light and quirky personality that had drawn Oliver to Felicity. The kind that made you want to trust them, even though Oliver really didn't want to. Unfortunately for him, Felicity did trust Barry, so she invited him onto the case as their personal CSI. 

And then she invited Barry into the Foundry - into the one place that Oliver had felt safe - his sanctuary. Not only that, but she'd revealed to Barry that Oliver Queen was the Arrow.

When he'd realized that Barry had seen his scars, Oliver was, for the first time, afraid of them being seen. If what he'd been feeling towards Barry meant that they were, in fact, soulmates, then this would have just confirmed it. 

So in true Arrow fashion, he'd lashed out. 

He didn't have time to worry about Barry or soulmates after that. He'd been too busy trying to figure out what his visions were and dealing with Cyrus Gold. 

By the time he'd returned to the Foundry, finally ready to think about dealing with the possibilities of soulmates, Barry was gone. 

Despite how horrible Oliver had been to him, Barry had still left him a present - a mask. And, of course, it fit perfectly.

Later that night, after Felicity and Dig had gone home, Oliver felt a tingling sensation on his chest. He yanked off his shirt and stumbled to a mirror. 

"Barry," he gasped, staring open-mouthed at the line of white hawthorn blossoms slashed across his chest.

~~*~~

Oliver managed to conceal his new soulmark for nearly a fortnight before Dig finally caught him with his shirt off.

Both Dig and Felicity had the night off, so Oliver thought it would be safe for him to train unencumbered by a shirt.

Unfortunately, Dig came jogging down the stairs, as he called out, "Don't mind me, I just need to grab something."

Oliver froze, his back to Dig. Hoping to keep the panic out of his voice, Oliver said, "You should have called, I could have brought it to you."

"Not when it's my phone that I left here," Dig said, swiping the item off of a table. He paused, noticing that Oliver was standing perfectly still, facing away from him. "Everything okay here?"

"Yes, of course," Oliver said, a little too quickly. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Maybe because you won't face me," Dig pointed out. 

"Felicity's not with you, is she?" Oliver asked, turning his head slightly.

"No, she's not here," Dig said, starting to sound worried. "What's going on, Oliver?"

Oliver took a deep breath and turned around. Dig's eyes widened, his mouth falling open before he forced it shut with a snap.

"That wasn't there the last time we sparred," Dig finally said, pointing to the line of flowers crossing Oliver's chest. 

"Yeah, I know," Oliver said. He crossed the room and grabbed a hoodie, zipping it up as he sat on a stool. 

"I don't recognize those flowers. Where is your soulmate?" 

Oliver huffed out a laugh. There was that word: _soulmate_. "Missouri. My guess would be Central City."

"You know, it almost looks like a…"

"Lightning bolt? I noticed that, too," Oliver said.

"Barry?" Dig guessed.

"I'm pretty sure, yeah," Oliver said. He stood and began to pace. "You know, I didn't even believe in soulmates until this happened. I know we're all supposed to have them, but I didn't believe in them. But now," he yanked the zipper down, looking at his soulmark, "it's kind of hard to deny it."

"Do you think he knows?" Dig asked, still in shock.

"He has to! He saw me with my suit unzipped. He had to have recognized my scars," Oliver said. "He would have been just a teenager when his marks started to appear. He must have felt that same connection that I felt when we first met."

"You were a bit of a jerk to him, though. Not that surprised he wouldn't want to scream from the rooftops that you were his soulmate when all you did was threaten and put him down," Dig said.

"I know," Oliver said, dejectedly, sinking back onto his stool. "I was confused and then surprised to see him down here and I just lashed out. I was going to apologize when I got back from confronting Gold, but he was gone and then he was struck by lightning."

"He obviously still cared, given that he left you that mask," Dig said.

Looking lost and younger than Dig had ever seen him, Oliver asked, "Why don't people talk about what it's like when you meet your soulmate for the first time?"

Dig let out a sigh and sat in Felicity's chair. "Probably because it's such a personal moment that it's hard to put into words."

"Do you know your soulmate? I've seen your marks."

Dig smiled, sadly. "It's Lilah, my ex-wife."

Oliver cocked his head to the side. "I thought that once soulmates married they stayed together for life."

"There are no hard and fast rules for being soulmates. And your soulmate doesn't have to be a romantic partner. There is such a thing as platonic soulmates, if your soulmate isn't your preferred gender." He shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "D-do you? Is Barry…?"

"I have been with men before," Oliver admitted. "And yes, I do find Barry attractive."

"So that's why you were practically throwing him at Felicity? You know she's going to be devastated, on multiple levels, by this news," Dig said. "You do know, right?"

"She's not that subtle," Oliver acknowledged. 

"You're going to have to tell her sooner or later," Dig said. 

"I was kind of hoping Barry would wake up from his coma first so that he and I can talk about it," Oliver said.

"It might be a long wait, from what Felicity says." Dig paused to think that over. "Why is she the one in touch with Barry's family instead of you?"

"Because it would be suspicious for me to reach out to his family since no one knows he's my soulmate," Oliver reminded him. 

"You might be able to get better information about him if they knew," Dig pointed out. "Soulmates get special privileges at hospitals."

"If it becomes absolutely necessary, then I will. But for now, it makes sense for Felicity to be the one checking up on him because they're friends," Oliver insisted.

~~*~~

It was a couple of weeks later, while Felicity was giving them an update on Barry's condition in Oliver's office at Queen Consolidated that she announced that she would like a couple of days off so that she could go visit him.

"Isn't he still in a coma?" Oliver asked, glancing sideways at Dig.

"He is," Felicity confirmed, "but they just moved him to S.T.A.R. Labs and they've finally been able to get him stabilized. I'm hoping that hearing some familiar voices will help to pull him out of the coma."

"That is good news," Oliver agreed. "Of course you can go." 

Dig cleared his throat and stared at Oliver, meaningfully. 

"Something you want to add?" Felicity asked him.

"No," Oliver said quickly. "But there is something I need to tell you before you go."

"Oh? What?" she asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Not here," Oliver said, glancing towards the open door to Felicity's desk. "Tonight, at the Foundry."

Felicity raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded and returned to her desk. 

Dig stepped closer to Oliver, "You ready for this?"

"Not in the least," he admitted, "but it seems that time has run out."

The day flew by too quickly, in Oliver's opinion, and before he knew it, it was time to go to his other job. He and Dig left before Felicity, as Oliver needed time to prepare himself. 

He was at his workbench, shirtless, sharpening arrows when he heard Felicity's heels on the stairs. 

"Are you finally ready to tell me what's been going on with you all month?" Felicity asked as she descended the stairs.

Oliver spun around, surprised by her question. "What do you mean all month?"

Felicity nearly tripped as she came to a sudden stop. "And I guess that answers my question. You've been worried about Barry."

Oliver's forehead crinkled in confusion. "You knew?"

Her ponytail swung as she shook her head. "I had a suspicion, but I didn't know for sure."

"I thought you were interested in Barry," he admitted.

"Oh, I was," Felicity quickly agreed. "And I think, under different circumstances he would have been interested in me, too. But I could tell that something… someone… else held his interest here in Starling City, and it wasn't Dig. No offense."

"None taken," Dig said.

"You're not mad?" Oliver pressed. "That someone else is my soulmate?"

Felicity laughed. "You didn't think I thought we could be soulmates, did you? Just because I have seen you shirtless many, many, many times, and I am not immune to all of that," she gestured towards his bare chest, "does not mean that I don't know the difference between lust and a soulmate connection. Besides, my soulmarks look nothing like your scars."

"But you do have soulmarks?" Oliver asked, a little surprised they'd never discussed this before. He felt like an even bigger ass for not having asked her these questions before.

"I do, but I don't know who he is," Felicity admitted, blushing.

"I think you do know, but you haven't talked to him about it," Dig said. "I saw you brushing the marks when they first appeared last year." 

"Don't you dare say it," Felicity hissed. "You notice too much."

Dig simply grinned and mimed locking his lips.

"Wait, is it someone I know?" Oliver asked, confused. He hated being out of the loop.

"You have to promise not to say anything to him until I'm ready," Felicity said.

"Only if you can promise the same thing with Barry's family," Oliver agreed. 

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Felicity muttered to herself as she pulled her blouse from her skirt and showed off the two Golden Poppies, one on her abdomen and one on her lower back.

Oliver's eyes widened with realization. "That looks like where the rebar… Tommy?"

"Shush," Felicity scolded him. "And thank you for saving his life. I mean, I know you didn't do it for me, because of course none of us knew, although I'd kinda suspected from the few times I've interacted with him, but we didn't have any proof yet, and he is your best friend." 

Oliver took a moment to let that sink in; then he smiled. "You know what, I think that's great."

"You do?" Felicity cautiously asked, obviously not having expected that reaction.

"The more I think about it, the more I can see how you two being together makes sense. You're two of my favorite people, of course I'd want you to be happy together."

Felicity rushed forward and hugged Oliver. "Thank you," she said. Then she realized she had her face pressed against his bare chest and pushed herself away.

"Um, maybe you should be the one going to visit Barry instead of me," she suggested, tucking her blouse back into her skirt.

"No, I don't want to reveal myself to his family before he and I have had a chance to talk," Oliver insisted. 

"You don't have to tell them you're his soulmate. You could go as a friend," Felicity pointed out.

"I can't see him like that," Oliver said, his voice breaking, just a little. 

"Okay," Felicity rushed to say. "Okay, you don't have to. I can continue to be your source for all information about Barry."

"Thank you," Oliver said, sounding more like himself. 

"And hopefully he'll wake up any day now," she added. 

Rubbing at his chest, Oliver quietly said, "I really hope so."


	3. You Felt As If You Just Woke Up

When Barry first woke up nine months after being struck by lightning, all he could think about was Iris; as usual. But once he saw himself in the mirror - once he saw his soulmarks - all he wanted was to see Oliver. To hear his voice. To let him know he was alive and awake. 

But first he had to figure out what was going on with his body and his newfound superspeed and healing. He also wanted to help stop Clyde Mardon and his freaky weather powers.

At least until Dr. Wells had yelled at him and told him that he could never be a hero and was just some kid struck by lightning. If Dr. Wells didn't think he was hero material, he'd go talk to the hero he did know. With his superspeed, he could get all the way to Starling City in no time.

When he arrived in Starling City, he called Oliver and was told to meet the vigilante on the roof of a building in the Glades.

"So that's my story. I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible, never imagining that I would become the impossible," Barry said, having filled Oliver in on what had happened over the past few days/months.

"So why come to me?" Oliver asked. "Something tells me you didn't just run six hundred miles to say 'hi' to a friend." 

"All my life, I've wanted to just do more... Be more. And now I am. And the first chance I get to help someone, I screw up." Oliver looked like he was going to say something, but Barry kept talking. "What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? What if I'm just some guy who was struck by lightning?" 

"I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, Barry. I think it chose you," Oliver said. 

"I'm just not sure I'm like you, Oliver. I don't know if I can be some... vigilante," Barry admitted. 

"You can be better," Oliver said with conviction. "Because you can inspire people in a way that I never could... Watching over your city like a guardian angel... Making a difference... Saving people... In a flash." Oliver turned his back and when he faced Barry again, he was wearing the mask Barry had given him. "Take your own advice. Wear a mask."

When it looked like Oliver was going to leave, Barry called out, "Wait, that's not the only reason I ran all this way."

Oliver paused and turned back to Barry, pushing back his hood and removing the mask. "You're right, Barry, there is something else we need to discuss. Not here, though." 

Barry gave Oliver a twitch of his lips as the only warning before he picked Oliver up and ran them to the Foundry. 

"Whoa, a little warning next time," Oliver said, grabbing onto a table for support when Barry stopped. 

"Sorry," Barry said, clearly not. "Hey, Felicity."

Felicity was sitting in her chair, mouth open. "Hey, Barry. So, you're awake?"

"I'm awake."

"And you can go really, really fast," she commented. 

"I'm kind of a speedster now. Dr. Wells called me a meta human," Barry said. "It happened when the particle accelerator exploded and I was hit by lightning."

"I came to visit you a few times, while you were in the coma," Felicity said. 

"Really? No one told me anyone visited besides my family," Barry told her.

"Oh," Felicity looked down. "I'm surprised Cisco didn't say anything." 

"We kind of had a lot of other stuff going on since I woke up better than I'd been before the coma." He leaned in closer. "I have abs now." 

He almost pulled up his shirt to show her, then remembered his soulmarks and how he needed to show Oliver first, so he didn't.

"Felicity, don't you have that thing you need to get to," Oliver said, interrupting them.

Barry turned around, not having realized that Oliver had slipped away to change clothes. The other man stood there wearing jeans and a dark blue Henley. 

"N-Oh, right, that thing," Felicity said, standing and grabbing her jacket, phone, and purse. "I really do need to get going."

"Are you sure?" Barry asked. 

"Yeah, you two catch up," Felicity said. "It was really good seeing you awake. Bye, Barry."

"Bye, Felicity," Barry returned. He waited until she was gone before saying, "That was weird."

"Sorry, but I thought we should talk just the two of us, and since I'm kind of living here now, I didn't have anywhere else to take you."

"You're living here? In the basement of your club?" Barry asked, looking around. 

"It's a long story, but I lost the company and the club. We lost everything - all our money. My mom was killed and Thea left town," Oliver said. "It's been a long nine months."

"I'm so sorry, Oliver. You're definitely going to need to give me the long version some time." Softening his voice, Barry asked, "Let me see your living space?"

Oliver nodded and led Barry to a dark area away from the workspace. He turned on a lamp, illuminating a queen size bed with a trunk at the foot of the bed. 

"Felicity bought the bed just a couple of weeks ago because I'd been sleeping on the floor," Oliver admitted, sitting on it. Barry looked aghast, so Oliver added, "I'd slept in worse situations on the island."

"That was in China, right? Near Hong Kong?" Barry asked, moving to stand in front of Oliver. 

Oliver nodded. "I'd ask how you know that, but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer."

Barry lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal some of his soulmarks. 

Oliver shifted closer to Barry, reaching out as he asked, "May I?"

Barry nodded and Oliver slid both of his hands against Barry's stomach, sliding upwards, carrying the shirt up the higher his hands went. Suddenly he surged to his feet so that he could continue revealing Barry's skin to his hungry eyes. 

Barry raised his arms obediently, his breath coming fast, as Oliver continued to pull the shirt over his head and down his arms before it was tossed away. 

"When did you figure it out?" Barry asked, huskily.

Oliver whipped his own shirt over his head and sent it to join Barry's. "About nine months ago."

Barry reached out to touch the line of white flowers crossing Oliver's chest. "But I don't have a scar. My new super-fast healing ability must have gotten rid of it."

"I guess I'll still be marked if you do get injured in your quest to become a hero," Oliver said, his own fingers tracing the flowers covering Barry's chest.

Oliver suddenly pulled Barry flush against his chest, wrapping him in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Barry."

Barry ran his hand soothingly over Oliver's back, mentally reminding himself to get a look at Oliver's back to see what all of the lower back scarring was. "What are you sorry for?"

"You must have been so young when the marks started to appear," Oliver said. "I can't imagine what you thought about me getting injured so much while I was gone."

Barry pulled back so he could meet Oliver's troubled blue eyes. "I was eighteen when the first mark showed up. Not so young. And it freaked out my foster dad, Joe, way more than me. I was more worried that you were in China than about getting the marks. I had no idea how I'd meet a Chinese soulmate. It didn't even occur to me that you might be an American injured in China until the Golden Poppies started showing up. You should really try to be more careful when you're out there arrowing people."

"Now that I know that soulmates are real, and that I have one - you - I'll try not to get injured as much," Oliver promised. "My body never really mattered much to me...until now."

"You didn't think soulmates were real?" Barry asked, his right hand moving up to touch Oliver's face, feeling his rough stubble against his palm.

Oliver shook his head, then nuzzled into Barry's hand. "I always thought they were just stories told to make people believe in love and destiny. I never saw a soulmark growing up, even though I'd heard of them, so I thought they were just part of the story. Until I got my own, at least."

"I always knew my parents were soulmates, even without either of them having soulmarks," Barry said. "It's one of the many reasons I knew my dad didn't kill my mom. So I always knew my soulmate would be out there, somewhere, and really hoped I'd meet them some day."

"I suspected we could be...the first time we met," Oliver admitted.

"You had a funny way of showing it," Barry teased. 

"You would have too if your entire worldview had just been spun on its axis," Oliver retorted. 

"I suppose that I can finally forgive you," Barry said, smiling. "Of course, as soon as I saw your bare chest, I knew. I didn't say anything because at the time you were being a jerk and I wasn't sure I wanted to be your soulmate."

"And now?" Oliver asked, drawing Barry's body closer to his.

Barry slid his other hand up Oliver's chest and around the back of his neck. "Now, I'm going to kiss you."

Barry pulled Oliver's head down to meet his waiting lips in a soft kiss. A growl rumbled through Oliver's chest and throat as he pulled Barry closer and deepened the kiss. Barry whimpered as he parted his lips, allowing himself to be consumed by Oliver.

When they pulled apart, gasping for air, Barry panted, "So that's what kissing your soulmate is like. I could get used to that."

"You better," Oliver growled, sounding very much like his Arrow voice.

"You sound so sexy like that," Barry blurted out. "Guess now I know why you wanted to _talk_ in private."

"No expectations," Oliver promised. 

"As much as I want to stay, I need to get back and deal with this guy who can apparently control the weather," Barry said, not pulling away from Oliver's embrace.

"Being a vigilante and having a personal life don't usually go well together," Oliver said. "I speak from experience."

"But you haven't tried with a fellow hero before," Barry pointed out. "At least we'll understand when one of us needs to run off. And maybe we can even help each other out sometimes. Like a team up."

Oliver frowned. "Partnership."

Barry grinned. "I like the sound of that."

Slowly, Oliver smiled. "I do, too."

"And hey, at least me living so far away won't be such a big deal now since I can get here in, like, half an hour," Barry said. 

"Hurry back when you defeat your weather man," Oliver said, tracing his fingers over the marks on Barry's chest again. "I want to kiss every single flower on your body."

Barry could have sworn his heart stopped for a second. "There's a lot."

"I know," Oliver said in his growly voice and Barry almost decided to just stay where he was.

"You don't play fair," Barry whined, his forehead falling to Oliver's shoulder.

"I never said that I did," Oliver said in his ear before nipping his earlobe.

Before Barry's knees, and resolve, could weaken, he sped to the other side of the room, needing to physically distance himself from Oliver's tempting words and body. He found his shirt and put it back on before speeding back and kissing Oliver quickly before zipping to the door. 

"I'll come find you once Mardon is behind bars," Barry promised.

"Hurry back, Barry. Run," Oliver said.

As Barry ran back to Central City, he knew that he'd find a way to stop Clyde Mardon. He'd become the hero he'd always wanted to be. And he had finally found his soulmate. Now all he had to do was prove his dad's innocence and his life would be perfect.


	4. I Could Go Anywhere With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally earning the rating in this chapter.

With the encouragement and support of Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco, Barry ran faster than he ever had before and managed to stop Mardon's tornado before it could do any serious damage. Then, when it looked like he was going to get shot for his trouble, Joe shot Mardon and saved Barry.

While the other cops were taking statements, Joe pulled Barry aside.

"What you can do…" Joe started, his voice holding tones of awe. "It was the lightning bolt?" 

"More or less," Barry confirmed, shifting uneasily. 

"I'm sorry, Barry. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. And I called you crazy for chasing the impossible. But you really did see something that night your mom died. And your dad is innocent." Barry's shock must have been written across his face. He'd been waiting thirteen years to hear Joe say those words. "I need you to promise me something. I don't want you telling Iris about anything you can do, any of it. I want her safe. Promise me." 

"Yeah," Barry agreed. "I actually have some news that's going to distract her for a while."

"You have other news?" Joe asked, raising an eyebrow.

Barry leaned in closer, the biggest smile on his face. "I met my soulmate. It's Oliver Queen."

Joe's smile fell away instantly. "Oliver Queen. The playboy whose parents were part of a conspiracy to destroy the poor neighborhoods in his city and who lost his family's company in a hostile takeover last year? The _man_ who disappeared for five years and returned at the same time as Starling City's new vigilante? That Oliver Queen?"

"Um, yes?" Barry nervously confirmed. "Look, I know on paper he's not the ideal soulmate. Hell, I thought he was the biggest jerk on the planet when I first met him, but when you get to know him, he's really not that bad."

"Not that bad is not what I had in mind for my son's soulmate," Joe said and then sighed. "I thought for sure you were going to say it was that pretty blonde that kept visiting you while you were in the coma."

"About that? Why didn't anyone tell me she had visited? No one said anything about me having visitors while I was, um, asleep," Barry said. 

"I guess we were all so surprised and happy to have you awake that it slipped our minds," Joe said. "So how come she was the one visiting you and not Oliver? Did he know who you were at the time?"

"He figured it out when the lightning bolt hit," Barry admitted. "Apparently, even though I heal really fast now, his marks still show where my scars would have been. He's got a massive soulmark going across his chest."

"You saw this man without his shirt since you've been awake?" Joe said, accusingly.

Barry coughed. "Yeah, I kind of... ran... to Starling City to see Oliver last night and we talked."

"You ran six hundred miles last night?" Joe confirmed. 

"It only took me half an hour." Barry beamed. "This superspeed is going to make having a long distance relationship so much easier."

Joe swallowed hard before asking, "The fact that you're both men isn't going to be an issue for either of you, is it? I know it's not any of my business, but even I have seen the tabloids of his many affairs - only with women. And as far as I know, you've only really been interested in Iris."

Barry's face flushed. "You knew about that?"

"Barry, everyone knew you were in love with Iris, except for Iris," Joe said, gently.

"I mean, yes, I was heartbroken when I figured out we weren't soulmates, but um, I have been with men before," Barry admitted. "College is for experimentation, right? And as a scientist…"

"I'm gonna stop you right here," Joe said. "That's more than enough information for this parent."

"Right, of course," Barry agreed. "I should get going, actually. I promised Oliver I'd go back once I'd taken care of Mardon. We have some, um, unfinished business."

"I don't want to know," Joe said, covering his ears. "But I do expect you to bring him over for dinner sometime soon. It's about time one of my kids found their soulmate." 

"I'll, uh, see what his schedule is like," Barry said before walking out of sight of the other cops and then speeding to Starling City.

He whooshed into the Foundry, where Oliver and Diggle were sparring. Oliver was gloriously shirtless and Diggle was wearing a tank top. Diggle froze upon Barry's sudden entrance and Oliver took advantage and knocked him to the ground.

"Barry, you're back," Oliver beamed, reaching a hand down to help Diggle up.

Diggle sat there, stunned. "How… Where did he come from?"

"You didn't tell him?" Barry asked. 

"Didn't get a chance," Oliver said with a shrug, leaving the still stunned Diggle on the mat and crossing to where Barry was standing. "Welcome back." He cupped Barry's face in his hands and pulled him in for a kiss. 

Barry's hands rose to embrace Oliver, eagerly running over the sweat-slick flesh.

"I will take that as my cue to leave," Diggle announced, having finally awakened from his stupor. 

"Bye, Diggle," Barry said as Oliver moved to kiss along his neck, not really sure if the other man was even still in the room. He sped them to Oliver's living quarters. 

"You're wearing too many clothes," Oliver observed as he pulled at Barry's shirt. 

"I'll take care of my clothes if you can find a light," Barry said. "I want to see you."

Oliver reluctantly released Barry as he moved to turn on the bedside lamp. Barry sped out of all of his clothes except for his boxers, which were doing a terrible job of hiding his arousal. When the light clicked on, his eyes fell on the box of condoms and lube sitting next to the lamp.

Oliver slipped out of his own pants and noticed where Barry was staring. "Wishful thinking, only," he promised. "I meant what I said last night, no pressure. Have you ever been with a man before?"

"I fooled around with guys in college, but mostly just hand and blowjobs," Barry said. "You?"

"I've fucked guys a few times," Oliver admitted. He prowled his way back to Barry. "But don't worry about that now. I believe that I made a promise to you."

He effortlessly picked Barry up and tossed him on the bed on his back, then crawled over him. When he was hovering over Barry, knees on either side of his hips, Oliver bent down and kissed the purple orchids on Barry's left shoulder - his first scar/soulmark.

Barry moaned wantonly at the feeling of Oliver's lips on his soulmark. He'd never felt any particular sensation from the marks before, aside from when they first appeared, but now, it felt like every press of Oliver's lips to one of the flowers went straight to his cock. 

Through his haze of lust, Barry's hands traced the scars on Oliver's body that Oliver was kissing the soulmark for. 

"Who would have thought that soulmarks were erogenous zones," Barry mused aloud. 

"How so?" Oliver asked as he moved to the second soulmark. 

Barry leaned up and pressed his lips to the upper edge of the soulmark on Oliver's chest, his tongue darting out to taste Oliver's flesh. Oliver's arms trembled and his weight was suddenly pressing Barry down into the bed - a not unpleasant sensation, especially with the way that their cocks now pressed together, separated only by their boxers.

"Fuck," Oliver hissed as pleasure zinged through his body. 

"And that was from just one kiss," Barry said. "There's gotta be close to a hundred flowers on my body, if you include all of the ones on my back. If you keep going, I'm gonna come just from that."

"Challenge accepted," Oliver growled before returning to the row of purple orchids along Barry's left peck. "Let's see how many kisses to your soulmarks it takes for you to come."

Barry whimpered and nodded his head, pulling Oliver's head back to his chest. 

"I wonder if it has something to do with saliva," Barry mused aloud. Oliver hummed in question, so Barry continued. "The erogenous zone thing. I certainly never felt anything when anyone else touched my soulmarks before, even when someone else kissed them," Oliver growled at that thought, "so it must be because it's you kissing them. It's probably something in your saliva because I didn't feel this when you just touched the marks yesterday. I'm going to need to test th--"

Oliver surged up and pressed his lips to Barry's, effectively silencing him. "Barry, I'm sure that's all fascinating to your science brain, but can you hypothesize later?"

Barry blushed and nodded. "Right, we're kinda in the middle of something important here. Please continue."

Oliver snorted his amusement, kissed Barry again, and then resumed kissing Barry's soulmarks. He was kissing the last flower on the second soulmark when Barry felt his orgasm nearing. 

"Wait, wait, wait," he said, pushing Oliver back. 

"Too much?" Oliver smirked. 

"A bit, yeah, I just...I'm close and don't want to come in my shorts," Barry said. He slapped Oliver's ass lightly, before ordering, "Up."

Oliver quirked an eyebrow at the slap and the command, but slid off of Barry's body and onto his side next to him all the same.

Barry sped out of his boxers, then removed Oliver's as well. Each of them took a moment to take in the other's fully naked body before their mouths crashed together again. 

Oliver wrenched himself away from Barry's mouth to move down to the next set of soulmarks. 

"What is that one anyway?" Barry asked between panting breaths. "Always thought it looked like teeth marks."

"Shark bite," Oliver said against Barry's skin. He pressed his mouth firmly to one of the flowers to shut Barry up before he could ask any more questions. "We'll do story time another day."

"O-ok-ay," Barry breathlessly agreed. 

He tried to trace the bite marks on Oliver's abdomen, but when his wrist brushed against his cock, Barry decided that would be a much better place to touch Oliver. Except Oliver wasn't going to allow that, not yet. 

He grabbed Barry's hand and moved it out from under his body. "We'll get to me later; this is all about you right now."

"I'm so close, Oliver," Barry whimpered, thrusting his hips towards the other man's body. 

Oliver reached out with his right hand and circled Barry's weeping cock, stroking him just a couple of times before releasing him and using that hand to press against Barry's right hip as he returned to kissing the bite marks.

Barry's fingers slid into Oliver's hair, as he warned, "Oliv-- I'm gonna…"

Oliver quickly turned and caught the head of Barry's cock with his mouth as Barry began to come.

Barry collapsed back on the bed as Oliver released him and pressed a kiss to a bare patch of skin before he moved up to kiss Barry. Ignoring the taste of himself on Oliver's lips, Barry kissed him hungrily. 

"I don't think that I have ever come so hard," Barry murmured when they finally separated. 

"And that was only fifteen flowers," Oliver said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Barry whimpered, then moaned as Oliver kissed one of the single golden poppies on his arm. He felt his cock twitch as it began to harden again. He leaned up so that he could stare down at his cock in disbelief.

"Well, I guess super-fast recovery time can be added to the list of New Things Barry's Body Can Do. I am not looking forward to telling Caitlin about this one - she's going to want to perform tests," Barry observed, causing Oliver to crack up. "I don't think it's that funny."

"But it'll be a lot of fun," Oliver said. "For me."

Barry pushed Oliver onto his back and he went willingly. He kissed one of the white flowers, causing Oliver to hiss in pleasure. He briefly kissed a couple more flowers on his way towards Oliver's cock.

Oliver leaned up on his elbows to see what Barry was doing. "You're not going to make me come the same way?" He sounded almost disappointed. 

"Nah, there's something else I want to try," Barry said. 

He licked his lips and then took Oliver's cock in his mouth. Every time he bobbed his head, he took in a bit more of Oliver's length. Once he had taken most of him in, Barry pressed his hand to Oliver's hips and hummed, vibrating his throat. 

Oliver let out a yelp of surprise, which faded into a moan as he collapsed back onto the bed. 

"Was that okay?" Barry asked, quickly pulling back. "Was that a good sound or a bad sound?"

"That was a very, very good sound," Oliver confirmed. "Do that again."

Barry grinned widely before taking Oliver back in his mouth. He tried experimenting with the vibrations a bit and it wasn't long before Oliver was shooting down his throat. 

He crawled up Oliver's body and kissed him lightly before laying down, pressed against Oliver's side with Oliver's arm wrapped around him.

"You're still hard," Oliver noted, feeling Barry pressed against his hip.

"I have a feeling that I'm going to be hard 24/7 for a while," Barry commented. "At least whenever I'm around you - or thinking about you - so yeah, pretty much all the time."

"Even without your recovery speed, I think I'll be in much the same state," Oliver admitted.

"Yet another thing they don't tell you about when you first meet your soulmate," Barry observed, "being in a constant state of horniness."

"I don't recall being in this state when we first met," Oliver confessed. 

"Well, me neither, but there was a lot going on when we first met," Barry agreed. "Must be an after-the-first-time-soulmates-kiss thing."

"Perhaps," Oliver agreed. 

"Oh, I know how to kill the mood, if that's what we're trying to do," Barry said, shifting around until he could meet Oliver's eyes.

"I guess that's your call," Oliver said, "but I do still have a lot of flowers to kiss."

"I'm afraid that I need a bit of a break before we do that again," Barry admitted. 

"Then what's your mood killer?" Oliver asked, absently stroking his fingers along Barry's spine.

"My foster dad wants you to come to dinner soon," Barry said. 

"Yep, that did it," Oliver agreed.

The sound of Barry's laughter echoed throughout the Foundry.

The End


End file.
